Commodities Corner

Copper: a Bit a Cropper

Rising supply and falling housing dent the red metal.

AFTER SETTING A RECORD HIGH AND SHINING throughout much of 2006, copper might be headed for a duller future, owing to rising inventories, plus softer housing and factory-output data. The red metal, which has slid since hitting a record $4.16 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division in May, could go still lower, although no one's predicting a massive sell-off back to 2005 prices.